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Times Names David Leonhardt Washington Bureau Chief

The New York Times has named David Leonhardt, this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary and the paper’s Economic Scene columnist, as its next Washington bureau chief.

Earl Wilson/The New York TimesDavid Leonhardt

His appointment is the first major staffing decision by the incoming executive editor of The Times, Jill Abramson, who described Mr. Leonhardt as “one of our finest writers and most elegant thinkers.”

“His keen understanding of how Washington works and the nexus of politics and economic policy make him a perfect leader of the Washington bureau at this moment,” said a memorandum to the staff of The Times that was signed by Ms. Abramson; Dean Baquet, the current Washington bureau chief who will become a managing editor under Ms. Abramson; and John Geddes, who will continue in his role as a managing editor.

Mr. Leonhardt, 38, who joined The Times in 1999, has taken on various writing assignments over the years, including economics reporter, staff writer for the Sunday Magazine and contributor to the Economix blog, which he helped create.

Mr. Leonhardt, who has a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Yale, said that while his background as a writer would inform his perspective as bureau chief, he did not envision shifting The Times’s Washington report toward more financial and economics coverage.

His goal, he said, is to help the paper decode the often mystifying ways of the capital in every respect. “More than ever, in this landscape in which there is no shortage of news sources, we need to explain what is going on with complex issues in a way that lets our readers understand Washington,” he said. “That means helping them understand what Washington is doing rather than what Washington is saying.”

Mr. Leonhardt said he would also be looking at ways the bureau could enhance its Web presence, including interactive graphics. “I think we need to figure out what of the new journalism that we are doing really works, and what we have started as experiments that we could draw lessons from and do better,” he said.

The memo, signed by Ms. Abramson, Mr. Baquet and Mr. Geddes, is below.

We are more than pleased to announce that David Leonhardt, one of our finest writers and most elegant thinkers, will be the next Washington bureau chief of The New York Times.

David’s strengths as a reporter, columnist and magazine writer are dazzling. His keen understanding of how Washington works and the nexus of politics and economic policy make him a perfect leader of the Washington bureau at this moment. His creativity is matched by his collegiality. His original take on key issues has strengthened our news report in deep and important ways.

He is also more than a little webbified, playing a main role both in starting the Economix blog, and a bit more recently, in working with a great interdepartmental crew to craft the “deficit puzzle” that remains among the most discussed features that we’ve done this past year.

When David was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary this year, the board pointed to his “graceful penetration of America’s complicated economic questions, from the federal budget deficit to health care reform.” He is also, in the words of one colleague, “endlessly inquisitive” — the most important trait of a good editor.

David is a native New Yorker. Before coming to The Times in September 1999, David worked on the metro staff of The Washington Post and for Business Week. He started on the business staff of The Times, writing about the economy and its effects on ordinary Americans. He added a Bizday column to his portfolio in 2006, and in September 2008 he took his column to Washington.

David’s appointment takes effect after Labor Day, when Dean moves to his new post in New York.

This is as good a moment as any to say something about the two editors who — perhaps more than anyone else — have helped the make today’s bureau the most dominant in Washington, through its coverage of politics and the Obama White House, and national security, intelligence, diplomacy and terrorism.

Dick Stevenson is one of the finest editors and leaders at The Times. He runs a political operation that is our first great success in integrating the Web and the print operations. He has been the go-to person on the budget and the political struggles that have come to dominate Washington. Simply put, he is a remarkable journalist whose knowledge of economics, politics, and Washington is unsurpassed.

Rebecca Corbett is a knockout enterprise editor who meets the major standard for a great editor — everything she touches gets better. Under her guidance, the bureau’s enterprise work has been ratcheted steadily upward. She has been a primary editor on the N.S.A. wiretapping story, Wikileaks, and the paper’s political profiles.

Obviously there will be much to say in the coming days and weeks, including the shape of David’s desk. But let’s take a minute to toast his appointment, and the achievements of a bureau that continues to dominate Washington